Mamdani's Bank-Breaking (and Back-Breaking) Budget

Socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor in New York

city in a landslide. And boy does he know that "To the victor 

goes the spoils"; he is certainly living it up enjoying the 

spoils. Right off the bat Mamdani is threatening to raise NYC 

property taxes unless the Democrats in Albany hike taxes on 

top earners and businesses. In other words, plunder the wealthy 

for Mamdani or Hizzoner will plunder them and the middle

class to boot. 

Mayor Mamdani's first budget for the Big Apple is a big budget;

$127 billion. He had the unmitigated gall to call his budget 

"austere" (!). It's a $10 billion increase over this year's budget.

Never mind that New York, both the city and the state, are 

swimming in tax revenue because of huge capital-gains 

realizations and Wall Street bonuses, tax collections haven't 

matched political spending and government employee benefits.

Mamdani stated that NYC is staring in the face of a $5 billion

deficit. But wait 'til you read the next paragraph in this post

to see some of the things on his wish list! 

What does Mamdani desire?  He wants to increase taxes on the

aforementioned top earners and businesses, using some of the swag 

to do even more spending than that already being done by Gotham.

The increased spending would be for universal child care, free buses,

buying or starting grocery stores and have them run by the municipal

government (!!) so as to have low prices on food for NYC's lower-

income people (so what's happened with EBT cards?) and other 

socialistic pipe dreams. As it currently is, the top 1% of New York

City's earners pay almost half of all the city's income taxes.

And Mamdani says they are not paying their fair share? What, 

pray tell Mayor Mamdani, is this "fair share" that you allude to?

60%? 75%? 90%? All of it ??? You would, in effect, make it all

but illegal to make and keep substantial income revenues!

Mamdani self-righteously states "I believe the wealthiest individuals

and most profitable corporations should contribute a little more 

so that everyone can live lives of dignity," This notion has long been

the rationale for raising taxes on not only the wealthy but the middle 

class of NYC as well, and what is there to show for it in the quality

of life for the lower-income New Yorkers? They are still down in 

the pocket, still struggling to pay their rent, to buy food, to pay 

for medicine and medical care, and so on. And they're not living 

in any significantly upgraded homes nor any new, more comfortable

homes. Besides, NYC rents are astronomical. So what gives? 

Ah, but the new mayor has a solution for the housing troubles: 

the creation of 200,000 new, "permanently affordable" housing 

units (?!). Union-made, of course. What's he going to do, 

implement another round of rent control? Some relevant facts:

rent control has a pretty dim history due to a lousy track record.

And who will be the landlords? The run-down areas of the city

have fallen into this sorry state because the property owners could

not afford necessary maintenance, with rent control making it 

difficult to raise rents to get the necessary funds. Finally, the artificially

lower rents will have to rise sooner or later, and when they do they

find their efficient cost levels the rents will be greatly higher 

than what most low-income renters can afford.

Meanwhile, top earners and businesses are starting to pack up and 

move out of both the city and the state, leaving for states with more

sensible, affordable, and reasonable tax rates and fewer taxes to pay.

The self-proclaimed "progressives" they are leaving behind are 

wondering why so many people are fleeing the New Yorks for 

greener pastures and less financial confiscation. They just don't get it.

Their hero the mayor certainly doesn't grasp what is happening here.

His very obvious goal is to raise public pressure on Albany to stick it

to bigger earners: "We do not want to have to turn to such drastic

measures to balance our budget," Mamdani said of his threatened 

property tax hike. Now pull the other one, Mister Mayor, it's got bells

on it! And balancing the city's budget is the least of Mamdani's 

concerns. If he would exercise some spending discipline and restraint,

he wouldn't need to jack up any taxes in his city. Simply keeping 

spending flat would eliminate 2026's budget deficit. But don't bet on

his doing that.

Remember when New York City went broke in the '70s, and begged 

Washington for a handout to help? Mayor Mamdani might make 

New York so broke that it would make the '70s look like boom times.

Such is socialism, and such are socialists.

MEM 

Bridgitte Bardot, R.I.P.

Bridgitte Bardot's heyday was when I was a mere boy, but I was

certainly aware of her, even having never seen any of her movies

(I still haven't). She was one of the world's most beautiful women;

I certainly saw that, even though I was not of the age where I could

more greatly appreciate this fact. The lady was an internationally

acclaimed film actress, and had retired from acting while at her

most famous and most beautiful, having appeared in movies for 

twenty years. In a later stage of her life, Bardot took up the cause 

of animal rights, especially harp seals in the Arctic which were 

relentlessly hunted. Strong opinions were also a part and parcel of 

the model-turned-actress; in 2000 her commentary on Islam and 

on homosexuality got her in trouble with the French government,

which socked this French conservative with fines on five separate 

occasions for incitement. But through it all, Brigitte Bardot was 

always and unapologetically herself --- living her life in that very

fashion. No apologies, no regrets. Departed at 91. Au revoir, Bridgitte.

Requiescat in pace. 

MEM

A Terrible Happening

The mother of NBC's Today Show personality Savannah Guthrie,

Nancy Guthrie has been abducted and is being held for ransom,

with her captor(s) demanding payment in Bitcoin for information

on Nancy's kidnapper(s). The FBI is conducting a fresh search of

Nancy's Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson, Arizona

to find the Guthrie matriarch and/or her abductor(s); Nancy Guthrie

has been missing since January 31, 2026.

On that date Nancy went to her family's home for a visit and to have 

dinner with them. At 9:48 PM, her garage door opened, then closed.

Police believed that this is when she returned home and was going 

to bed. On February 1 at 1:47 AM, the doorbell camera disconnected.

Software detected someone on camera but no video is available 

because the camera "loops". The detection was made at 2:12 AM.

At 2:28 AM her pacemaker disconnected. The family checked in on

Nancy at 11:56 AM  and drops of blood was found near her door. 

In a social media post, FBI Director Kash Patel shared some pictures 

of the alleged abductor for the first time. A former FBI agent told the 

Washington Post that the bizarre way in which the suspect carried his

gun, along with the slapdash way he tried to cover up a second camera,

pointed to an inexperienced criminal, at least when it comes to 

kidnappings. 

A plea for my readers in the Tucson vicinity: keep your eyes out for 

Nancy Guthrie. Nancy is 84 years old, stands 5'5" and weighs 150 

pounds, has brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen at her home 

on the evening of January 31, near East Skyline Drive and North 

Campbell Ave. It is not known what clothes she might be wearing.

If you see her or someone who looks like they may be her, please

call the Tuscon Police and/or the FBI to inform. It is not known at

this point in time if she is still alive. Time is truly of the essence.

And say a prayer for her swift and safe return to her family,

and that her kidnapper(s) get found and brought to justice.

The Guthries have no idea where Nancy is or what physical 

condition she is in. The Peasant thanks you all profusely and

gratefully, and thanks the New York Post for the detailed information

that they were able to obtain at this juncture. 

MEM

Apologies for My Unplanned Absence

Your beleaguered Peasant apologizes for my being away the past 

two weeks; place the blame on two culprits: frigid winter weather

and a bad back (strained muscles), both rendering me housebound.

The weather here in southeastern Wisconsin has warmed to normal

winter temperatures and my back is better so I have returned to be 

with you, my wonderful and understanding readers. In the meantime

I celebrated my birthday flat on my back in bed with my cell phone

within easy reach, getting calls from family and friends wishing me 

a happy birthday (my 68th) and snuggling up with Brownie, my 

affectionate cat. 

We shall resume our activities here on this blog, getting back down

to business in a few days. I should also inform you all that due to 

possibly more twists and turns in the weather, and should my back 

fail to hold up and/or if anything else in my body goes "SPROING!!!"

I shall post whenever I can, as often as I can. No particular day. 

At least Spring is now within sight; 6 1/2 more weeks and it's here! 

Then, if Old Man Winter would be good enough to pack his bags

and conclude his visit on schedule (for once!) things will be much

more comfortable around here. But for now, let's take things one 

day at a time and we'll get through all this successfully.

It's good to be back!

MEM

Goodbye and Get Lost!

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has resigned from Congress

toward the end of 2025 and gave her departure date as January 5.

That date has been and gone, and with it her wacky stint in the House 

of Representatives. 

MTG has not distinguished herself in any positive way during her time 

there. She exited quite suddenly, likely to avoid a Trump-endorsed

primary candidate who would have easily won, her leaving also being

spurred by her badgering the Trump administration to release the 

supposed Epstein files. She ran out on her district constituents who

elected her (and they likely now regret having elected her in the 

first place and don't miss her one iota). National Review opined 

that "judging by her recent TV appearances, The View seems to suit 

her better than the U.S. House". Your bemused Peasant couldn't 

put it better. 

With all that's at stake in our country at this time, we can't afford to 

have to battle loose cannons in our ranks rather than our foes

in the other party.

MEM

Scott Adams, R.I.P.

Anyone who has or has had a difficult job, or worked in 

a difficult workplace, or had a difficult boss were big fans 

of Adams and his comic strip character Dilbert, the very

intelligent and taken for granted engineer who is bedeviled

by a mean-spirited, stultifyingly stupid, self-serving boss

and by various dopey co-workers, whose ideas are ignored 

or set aside and forgotten about after he presents them at

departmental meetings, and is often assigned by his buffoon-

ish boss to perform tasks which are worthy of a clerk or some

other low-ranking staff member rather than a sharp, smart 

engineer, all while occupying a cubicle in the middle of all

this comedic hurly-burly. As one who has gone through much

of the same soul-sucking, gut-grinding, dignity-draining 

workplace indignations as the fictional hero of the downtrodden

employee which Adams brought to life had faced, your favorite

Peasant also revered both the put-upon cartoon engineer and his

creator. 

Dilbert was chiefly a comic strip which made mirthful fun of

the corporate world and how office life can descend into the 

ridiculous, the banal, the mind-bending, the ego-feeding, and 

the just plain dumb. Adams drew in a satirical way the 

social and psychological nomenclature of offices and the white-

collar employees who toiled in them, and also wrote books about

same with the same sharp-humored thrusts. Adams also had plenty 

of experiences of his own to draw from, working in offices and 

going through the rigmarol. 

Adams also did commentary on politics and events, writing and 

speaking from a libertarian perspective. He got into trouble 

when he said, on his livestream show Real Coffee With Scott Adams

in reaction to a poll which asked if respondents agreed that "it's OK 

to be white, a phrase labeled as racist by the Anti-Defamation League,

with 26% of black respondents and 21% were not sure, that blacks 

were a "hate group" and that "the best advice I could give to white 

people is to get the hell away from black people, just get the f*** 

away". In response to Adams' remarks, many newspapers across the 

country promptly dropped his comic strip Adams defended his words

as hyperbole and as taken out of context in reportage, disavowing 

racism and stated that nobody would disagree with what he said were 

his main points. 

Several months earlier Adams was diagnosed with prostate cancer,

which soon spread to his spine and other areas of his body. After a 

painful battle bravely waged, Scott Adams finally succumbed on 

January 13, aged 68. Dilbet is the biggest part of his legacy to the 

world, which is hungry for good comedy, including comedy with

a satirical bite --- especially for those troubled souls trapped in their

office cubicles, trying to outmaneuver their wretched bosses and to

outwit them and their not-so-bright co-workers while trying their  

damndest to get recognition for their contributions to the mission 

of the company. Rest in Peace and thanks for the target-hitting humor!

MEM

The New Year Begins With A Bang!

No sooner than your favorite Peasant returns from his

holiday break does he find a tsunami of political news

stories sweeping the country! I have always maintained 

that because I publish a political blog I never run out of

material to comment on! Ah, the blessing of an endless 

supply of stories! 

Starting next week I shall get back down to business and

share my insights with you, my dear and fantastic readers.

I am caught short with some other unexpected things as

we wade into 2026, but will have everything squared away

by next Thursday. Meanwhile your joyful Peasant is so glad

to be back with all of you!

So for now I say to you Happy New Year and let's make it 

a magnificent one!

MEM